Wireless synchronization of media content and subscription content

ABSTRACT

Arrangements are provided which use a host computer to configure a wireless portable device&#39;s network connection parameters. The radio on the portable device may be used to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks. Once a synchronization relationship between the portable device and a media library on a host computer is established, periodically updated content, such as podcasts, may be discovered and subscribed to using software on the host computer, and the content synchronized with the host computer. A portable device may manage episodic content, such as podcasts, using the device&#39;s own wireless connection, and may further send such content to other portable devices. A central user profile may be set up on a web server to synchronize multiple wireless or wired devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/195,860 filed on Mar. 4, 2014, which is acontinuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/272,641 filed on Oct. 13, 2011 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,667,099on Mar. 4, 2014, which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/165,553 filed on Jun. 30, 2008 and issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,232 on Nov. 29, 2011. Each above-identifiedapplication is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

As digital media technology improves and the price of storage decreases,users increasingly host collections of digital media (for example,audio, video, images, graphics, and like) on their personal computersand/or network-based data storage services. But users often desire fortheir digital media collections to be portable. More and more, usersseek to transfer all or some of their collections to portable devices.Examples of portable devices include but are not limited to personalmedia players, personal digital assistants, phones, portable computers,in-vehicle devices, and other devices.

With the advent of relatively high capacity storage on portable devices,users can store large quantities of media content on their portabledevices. The process of transferring media files between a host computerand a portable device is termed synchronization. For example, the mediatransfer protocol (MTP) may be combined with the AutoSync® functionalityof Windows Media Player® to accomplish synchronization.

Synchronization is often performed using a wired connection between aportable device and a host computer. For example, in the most commonimplementation of MP3 players and other related digital media playbackdevices, the content is placed on the device using a wired USB or“Firewire” IEEE 1394 cable. Certain devices have also implementedwireless data transfer methods using 802.11 “WiFi” connections orBluetooth. For example, some portable devices allow wirelesscommunication between multiple portable devices or between the deviceand a web-based service. However, the information exchanged is generallylimited to downloads of commercial paid content from a proprietarystore, or exchange of information of how to download a particular songfrom the proprietary store between two paying subscribers.“Podcast”-style periodic episodic content is generally not supported bysuch systems.

Other systems include the Windows Mobile® operating system platform,which is available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., and isused in a variety of phones and handheld PCs, and the same supportssynchronization of a variety of information between the portable deviceand an associated host computer using a wireless connection. In thesesystems, however, the portable device's wireless configuration is set upon the portable device itself, using a graphical user interface (“GUI”)of the portable device.

In particular, users employ a GUI supported by a display screen that isincorporated into the player in order to configure the wirelessconfiguration, although a primary function of such a GUI is to navigateamong various menus to make selections of media content, controloperation of the portable device, set preferences, and the like. Themenus are organized in a hierarchical manner and the user will generallyinteract with user controls (e.g., buttons and the like) to move withina menu and jump to different menus to accomplish the desired functions.

As portable devices accumulate more onboard storage and support morefeatures and functions, the GUIs needed to control them have oftenbecome larger and more complex to operate. For example, some currentmedia players can store thousands of songs, videos, and photographs,play content from over the air radio stations, and enable sharedexperiences through device-to-device connections. Navigating throughsuch large volumes of content and controlling the user experience asdesired can often mean working through long series of hierarchicalmenus. And when such GUIs are also employed to configure other utilityfunctions, such as wireless connection configurations, user operationsmay often be complicated.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, arrangements are provided which employ the rich userinterface of a host computer to configure a wireless portable device'snetwork connection parameters. The arrangement may employ a radio on theportable device to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks, andpartial configuration information may be returned to the host computerusing a wired connection in order to assist in the process of completingthe device's wireless configuration process of the portable device.

In a further aspect, once a synchronization relationship between theportable device and a media library on a host computer is established,periodically updated content, such as podcasts, may be discovered andsubscribed to using software on the host computer, and the contentsynchronized with the host computer.

In yet another aspect, a portable device may manage episodic content,such as podcasts. In particular, sufficient information may be providedto a portable device to allow for management of the subscription anddownload of periodic updates of the content using the device's ownwireless connection, with no explicit need for the host computer toprocure ongoing content updates from the publishing source, which isusually located on the internet. This aspect may allow for one or moreof the following features to be provided. The portable device, havingreceived a subscription from the media library of the host computer, maybe enabled to unsubscribe from the content and stop further periodicupdates, without input from the host computer. This information may thenbe transmitted back to the host computer during the synchronizationprocess. The device, having received podcast episodes from the hostcomputer, may send those episodes wirelessly to another device, and therecipient of those episodes may choose to subscribe to that contentthemselves from their device user interface. In some implementations,this feature may be limited to devices within a certain family, such asthose of a particular model or type. All information necessary tosubscribe or unsubscribe to the series, such as the Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) to the podcast's “RSS” file, which is a file ofXML-formatted data describing the series and its episodes, may betransmitted between the two devices, or between devices and theirassociated host computer.

In an aspect related to wireless podcasting management, the user'ssubscription data (including but not limited to: which series tosubscribe to, how often to check for new episodes, which episodes havebeen consumed already, bookmarks into partially-consumed episodes, theorder in which to play back episodes, and so forth) may be stored in asingle user profile stored on a web server associated with a user loginor identity. In this way, a variety of possible playback devices (hostcomputers, MP3 players, multipurpose gaming consoles such as the Xbox360, etc.) may use this single web-based data store to determine whatactions to take locally in order to have the current state of all usersubscriptions. Such actions could include downloading local copies ofseries episodes from the original publisher, deleting episodes which canbe determined to have been completely consumed elsewhere using anotherdevice, beginning playback at an updated location due to priorconsumption activity, adding new subscriptions, or removingsubscriptions to which the user unsubscribed by using another device.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form. The concepts are further described in the DetailedDescription section. Elements or steps other than those described inthis Summary are possible, and no element or step is necessarilyrequired. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended foruse as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solveany or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a portable device that is operatively coupled to a hostcomputer and where the host computer is connected to a media contentdelivery service over a network such as the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram that shows various functionalcomponents of an illustrative example of a portable device.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram that shows various physicalcomponents of an illustrative example of a portable device.

FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified functional block diagram of anarrangement for wirelessly synchronizing media and subscription content,showing in particular the wired and wireless system architecture.

FIG. 5 illustrates a synchronization setup process in which a portabledevice may be configured by the host computer with a WiFi networkingconfiguration profile, allowing the same to connect to the host computerusing the wireless network.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart describing an arrangement for wirelessly managingcontent on a portable device, as well as for sharing content betweendevices.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram depicting components in an arrangement inwhich multiple associated devices, including portable devices and hostcomputers, may be synchronized to a central user profile.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart describing exemplary steps that may be employed inthe arrangement of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a simplified functional block diagram of an exemplaryconfiguration of an operating environment in which the arrangement forwirelessly synchronizing media and subscription content may beimplemented or used.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Arrangements are provided for employing a graphical-rich user interfaceof a host computer to set up a wireless network configuration of aportable device. The arrangement can employ a radio module within theportable device to detect and determine information about a wirelessaccess point such as a WiFi network. Once configured for wirelesscommunications, content may be managed on the portable device, andcontent may be transmitted from one wireless portable device to another.A user profile may be set up on a web server to which each deviceassociated with a user is synchronized. Changes to content on one devicemay be propagated through to the others, maintaining each device at thelatest state of the media content library.

The following terms and definitions are provided as an initial matter.

“Content items” (within content storage 72 shown in FIG. 1 and discussedfurther below), “items of content”, or just “content” represent anyknown or later-developed commercial or non-commercial stored digitalcontent (for example, files corresponding to audio, video, images,graphics, text, playlists, and the like) in any known or later-developedformat. Content items may also include episodic content, such aspodcasts, made up of individual content files and/or an RSS-standard XMLfile that defines the series and the context, order, and description ofthe content of the related episodes. Content items may be protected byone or more enforceable intellectual property rights of one or morethird parties, such as copyrights, patent rights, trademark rights, ortrade secret rights. It is to be appreciated and understood that contentitems can be embodied on any suitable computer-readable medium.

A “portable device” (element 30 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 7 anddiscussed further below) is any device that can store and/or rendercontent items. Some ability to manage the content items thereon isusually accorded, such as the ability to delete a content item or to addto or modify a playlist. However, in many cases, such functionality isminimal as users prefer to manage their content on a device where thecontent items may be more easily visualized, such as a “host computer”described below. An exemplary portable device is a portable and/orin-vehicle media player, phone, personal digital assistant, computer,and the like.

A “host computer” (such as element 30 shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 7 anddiscussed further below) is any device with functionality to enumerateand/or manage content items. A host computer may also generally rendercontent items. While an exemplary host computer discussed here is apersonal computer, the arrangement may be employed with any computingdevice, such as desktop computers, servers, laptop or notebookcomputers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants, smartphones,mobile phones, tablet computers, mainframe computers, and the like.

“Synchronization” (such as via link 60 in FIG. 1 and links 140 and 146shown in FIG. 4 and discussed further below), refers to the act ofmaking two sets of content items on each of two different devices, suchas a host computer and a portable device, correspond to each other. Thetwo sets need not be identical; rather, the correspondence is generallyto add or delete content items on both, or to manage content items onboth. In many cases, content is managed on a host computer and themanaged content is periodically synchronized with a portable device thata user carries as part of the user's daily routine. In many cases, hostcomputers can store much more information than portable devices, andthus it is a subset of content items on a host computer that issynchronized with a portable device. Host computers may also synchronizewith other host computers. Moreover, a user may synchronize contentdownloaded from an online service to a mobile phone, and thensynchronize the mobile phone to another host computer. Synchronizationmay be partial; that is, only a portion of the content on one device maybe synchronized to another device. This may occur, e.g., when onlycertain playlists are synchronized or where a user interrupted thesynchronization (or the connection was lost) before the synchronizationwas completed. The synchronization procedure may be automatic or manual.While the term “synchronization” refers to data and information flowingin both directions between a host computer and a portable device, theterm often relates to simply downloading items from a host computer to aportable device.

FIG. 1 shows a system 100 coupled through a network 40 to a mediacontent delivery service 50. The system 100 includes a portable device20 that is connected to the host computer for synchronization through awired connection cable 60. The connection cable 60 is coupled to aninput port 24 such as a USB port (Universal Serial Bus), in thisexample. Other arrangements may also be used to implement communicationsbetween the portable device 20 and host computer 30 including, forexample, those employing wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi(i.e., the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE802.11 standards family) that enable connection to a wireless network oraccess point.

In this example, the portable device 20 is arranged to be operativelycouplable with the host computer 30 using a synchronization process bywhich data may be exchanged or shared between the devices. Thesynchronization process implemented between the host computer 30 andportable device 20 typically enables media content such as music, video,images, games, information, and other data to be downloaded from theon-line source or media content delivery service 50 over the network 40such as the Internet to the host computer 30. In this way, the hostcomputer 30 operates as an intermediary or proxy device between theservice 50 and the portable device 20.

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram that shows variousillustrative functional components of the portable device 20. Thefunctional components include a digital media processing system 26, auser interface system 28, a display unit system 32, a power sourcesystem 44, and a data port system 42. The digital media processingsystem 26 further comprises an image rendering subsystem 34, a videorendering subsystem 36, and an audio rendering subsystem 38.

The digital media processing system 26 is the central processing systemfor the portable device 20 and provides functionality that is similar tothat provided by the processing systems found in a variety of electronicdevices such as host computers, mobile phones, PDAs, handheld gamedevices, digital recording and playback systems, and the like.

Some of the primary functions of the digital media processing system 26may include receiving media content files downloaded to the player 20,coordinating storage of such media content files, recalling specificmedia content files on demand, and rendering the media content filesinto audio/visual output on the display for the user. Additionalfeatures of the digital media processing system 26 may also includesearching external resources for media content files, coordinating DRMprotocols for protected media content, and interfacing directly withother recording and playback systems.

As noted above, the digital media processing system 26 further includesthree subsystems: the video rendering subsystem 36 which handles allfunctionality related to video-based media content files, which mayinclude files in MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and other formats;the audio rendering subsystem 38 which handles all functionality relatedto audio-based media content including, for example music in thecommonly-utilized MP3 format and other formats; and the image renderingsubsystem 34 which handles all functionality related to picture-basedmedia content, including for example JPEG (Joint Photographic ExpertsGroup), GIF (Graphic Interchange Format), and other formats. While eachsubsystem is shown as being logically separated, each may in fact sharehardware and software components with each other and with the rest ofthe portable device 20, as may be necessary to meet the requirements ofa particular implementation.

Functionally coupled to the digital media processing system 26 is theuser interface system 28 through which the user may exercise controlover the operation of the portable device 20. A display unit system 32is also functionally coupled to the digital media processing system 26and may comprise the display screen. Audio output through an earphonejack for playback of rendered media content may also be supported bydisplay unit system 32. The display unit system 32 may also functionallysupport and complement the operation of the user interface system 28 byproviding visual and/or audio output to the user during operation of theplayer 20.

The data port system 42 is also functionally coupled to the digitalmedia processing system 26 and provides a mechanism by which theportable device 20 can interface with external systems in order todownload media content. The data port system 42 may comprise, forexample, a data synchronization connector port, a network connection(which may be wired or wireless), or other means of connectivity.

The portable device 20 has a power source system 44 that provides powerto the entire device. The power source system 44 in this example iscoupled directly to the digital media processing system 26 andindirectly to the other systems and subsystems throughout the player.The power source system 44 may also be directly coupled to any othersystem or subsystem of the portable device 20. Typically, the powersource may comprise a battery, a power converter/transformer, or anyother conventional type of electricity-providing power source, portableor otherwise.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram that shows various illustrativephysical components of the portable device 20 based on the functionalcomponents shown in FIG. 2 and described in the accompanying text (whichare represented in FIG. 3 by dashed lines) including the digital mediaprocessing system 26, the user interface system 28, the display unitsystem 32, the data port system 42, and the power source system 44.While each physical component is shown as included in only a singlefunctional component in FIG. 3, the physical components may, in fact, beshared by more than one functional component.

The physical components include a central processor 62 coupled to amemory controller/chipset 56 through, for example, a multi-pinconnection 58. The memory controller/chipset 56 may be, in turn, coupledto random access memory (“RAM”) 52 and/or non-volatile memory 48 such asflash memory. These physical components, through connectivity with thememory controller/chipset 56, may be collectively coupled to a hard diskdrive 46 via a controller 54, as well as to the rest of the functionalcomponent systems via a system bus 64.

In the power supply system 44, a rechargeable battery 92 may be used toprovide power to the components using one or more connections (notshown). The battery 92, in turn, may also be coupled to an external ACpower adapter 94 or receive power via the sync cable 60 when it iscoupled to the host computer 30.

The display screen is associated with a video graphics controller 74.The video graphics controller will typically use a mix of software,firmware, and/or hardware, as is known in the art, to implement the GUI.Along with the earphone jack and its associated audio controller/codec68, these components comprise the display unit system 32 and may bedirectly or indirectly connected to the other physical components viathe system bus 64.

The user controls 76 are associated with a user control interface 78 inthe user interface system 28 that implements the user controlfunctionality that is used to support the interaction with the GUI asdescribed above. A network port 86 and associated network interface 82,along with the sync port 88 and its associated controller 84 mayconstitute the physical components of the data port system 42. Thesecomponents may also directly or indirectly connect to the othercomponents via the system bus 64.

FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified functional block diagram of thearrangement 100 for wirelessly synchronizing media and subscriptioncontent, showing in particular the wired and wireless systemarchitecture. The arrangement 100 includes as noted the host computer 20and the portable device 30. On the host computer 20 is disposed a mediaplayer application 112 which communicates with a device manager 114,shown in FIG. 4 as the Windows Media® Device Manager (WMDM). The devicemanager 114 is in communication with a Windows Media® Digital RightsManagement (WMDRM) license store. The device manager 114 communicateswith a portable device driver 118, which in turn communicates with adriver 122 for a wired communications protocol, such as an MTP USBdriver.

At the level of the MTP USB driver 122, the host computer 30communicates with the portable device 20 through a wired connection 146(see also link 60 in FIG. 1). The wired connection 146 communicatescontent items, metadata, and other data and commands using a suitableprotocol, e.g., the MTP protocol. Besides USB synchronization functions,the wired connection 146 may communicate IP configuration information,MAC information during pairing, and the like. In addition, it is throughthis connection that a device radio 162 may be employed to detect or“sniff” for SSIDs. In particular, a radio 162 on the portable device 20may be employed to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks byscanning for, and tuning to, certain predetermined frequencies. Thisaspect has a number of benefits. For example, the host computer may nothave a radio or other means by which to detect or access a wirelessnetwork, though the host computer may still access the network in awired fashion. In this way, the richer user interface capabilities ofthe host computer may be leveraged to to complete the configurationprocess of the portable device.

Partial configuration information may be returned to the host computer30 using the wired connection 146 in order to assist in the process ofcompleting the wireless configuration process of the portable device 20,explained in greater detail below. The partial configuration informationmay include information about the wireless network discovered during useof the device radio 162.

The device manager 114 may also communicate with another driver for IPcommunications, such as an MTP/IP driver 124. The MTP/IP driver 124 mayaccess a pairing MAC database of known portable devices 134, in order toobtain configuration information about the same. The MTP/IP driver 124may in addition implement a wireless portable device devnode 128, whichmay be a WiFi portable device devnode, and which may store a portabledevice's current IP information.

The portable device driver 118 communicates with a portable devicedevnode 126, such as a USB portable device devnode, which is an internalstructure that represents the portable device in the system. The devnode126, as well as the wireless portable device devnode 128, communicatewith the operating system plug-and-play subsystem 132 for peripherals.

The operating system plug-and-play subsystem 132 also communicates witha hardware driver 144 such as UMBus (user mode bus enumerator).Information is communicated between the pairing MAC database of portabledevices 134 to a universal plug-and-play (uPNP) listener 138 viaconnection 136, which may be wired or wireless. The uPNP listener 138accesses a wireless network via a network adaptor 142. In particular,the network adaptor 142 allows the host computer 30 to access theportable device 20 through a wireless link 140.

The portable device 20 includes a transceiver 148, which may be a USBtransceiver, and into which the wired connection 146 is made. Thetransceiver 148 in turns communicates with a command receiver 152, andin the case of a USB transceiver, the command receiver may be a MTP/USBcommand receiver. The command receiver 152 then communicates with an MTPcommand processing module 158, which may access both a device database168 and a content storage module 172.

As noted above, the portable device 20 also includes a radio 162 whichcan be tuned to and thus receive data from various frequencies includingthose pertaining to WiFi or other data communications bands. In thismode, the radio 162 communicates with a TCP/IP stack 164 whichcommunicates in turn with both a MTP/IP command packetizer/depacketizer156 and a uPNP stack for presence announcement 166. The MTP/IP commandpacketizer/depacketizer 156 also communicates with a Pairing MACdatabase module 154, which in turn communicates with the commandreceiver 152.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart describing a wireless synchronization setupprocess 150 in which a portable device may be configured by the hostcomputer with a WiFi networking configuration profile, allowing theportable device to connect to the host computer using the wirelessnetwork. The arrangement starts (step 202) and a first step is todetermine if the host computer has stored any valid wirelessconfigurations (step 204). The determination may be assisted byconsulting a database of wireless configuration settings (step 204).

That is, if the host computer has its own wireless radio, then thearrangement may transmit all of the information from the wirelessconfiguration of the host computer to the portable device. For example,this information may include the passphrase for the wireless network aspreviously entered when setting up the host computer's wirelessconfiguration. Each such piece of information sent contributes to makingthe portable device's wireless configuration setup more seamless andconvenient. The ability to re-use the host computer's wirelessconfiguration setup parameters by sending the same to the portabledevice further simplifies the configuration process.

Returning to the flowchart, if valid wireless configurations are found,the configurations may be displayed, and the user may be prompted (step206) to choose one (or the user may be allowed to choose noconfigurations).

If the user selected an existing configuration (step 208), the flow mayproceed to a step where the user enters any missing security information(step 224). The configuration may be stored onto the device (step 226),and the device may attempt to connect to the network using the storedconfiguration (step 228). A check is then made of whether the connectionsucceeded (step 232). If so, media access control identifiers (MACs) maybe exchanged between the host computer 30 and the portable device 20(step 238), the same being termed “pairing”. In so doing, the MTP/IPdriver 124 may consult the pairing MAC database of known portabledevices 134, and the pairing/MAC database module 154 in the portabledevice 20 may receive information over link 140 and may communicate thesame back to the host computer using the wired link 146.

Returning to the upper portion of the flowchart of FIG. 5, if there areno valid wireless configurations on the host computer 30, or if the userfails to select one of the existing configurations (as the user wasprompted for in step 208), then the portable device may be prompted todetect or “sniff” for service set identifiers (SSIDs) or any other suchwireless sources in the area (step 212). Such detection may employ theradio in the portable device. A determination is made as to whether anySSIDs were found (step 214). If one or more SSIDs were found, then theconfigurations may be displayed, and the user may be prompted (step 222)to choose one (or the user may be allowed to choose no configurations).If the user selects an existing configuration (step 209), the flow mayproceed to the step where the user enters any missing securityinformation (step 224). The flow then proceeds as above.

If no SSIDs were found, then a refresh may be allowed, or the user mayenter an SSID manually (step 218). If the user enters the SSID manually,then flow again passes to the step where the user enters any missingsecurity information (step 224). The flow then proceeds following step224.

The above description branched at the point where a determination wasmade about whether a connection succeeded, and if so the flow passed tostep 238. If, however, the connection did not succeed, then flow maypass to a step of prompting the user to try again (step 234). If they donot, then the process may end (step 236). If the user wishes to tryagain, then the flow may be passed to step 216 which results in theportable device 20 again attempting to sniff for wireless access points(step 212). At the conclusion of the steps of the flowchart 150, theportable device 20 may be properly configured to interact wirelesslywith the media content delivery service 50 through the network 40.

The above FIGS. 4 and 5 employed the user interface of a host computer30 to configure a wireless portable device's network connectionsparameters. In this fashion, the generally-richer user interfacefeatures of a host computer allow an easier and more convenient userexperience, as opposed to configuring a portable device using only auser interface available on the portable device.

Once a synchronization relationship between the portable device and amedia library on a host computer is established, periodically updatedcontent, such as podcasts, may be discovered and subscribed to usingsoftware on the host computer, and such content then synchronized withthe host computer. Sufficient information may be provided to a portabledevice to allow for management of the subscription and download ofperiodic updates of episodic content (or any other content) using thedevice's own wireless connection, with no explicit need for the hostcomputer to procure ongoing content updates from the publishing source,which is usually located on the internet. A user may also provide thecontent to another device, similarly configured for wireless connectionto a network.

For example, referring to FIG. 6, a flowchart 250 is shown forconfiguring wireless downloading and management of episodic or othercontent on a portable device. The user has subscribed to episodic orother such content on their host computer (step 244). The host computerand portable device are then synchronized (step 246). Updates to theepisodic content, such as new episodes, may then be downloaded in awireless fashion directly to the portable device (step 248). Theportable device, having received a subscription from the media libraryof the host computer, may choose to manage the content (step 252), whichmay include a step of unsubscribing from the content and stoppingfurther periodic updates (step 254). This or any other managementinformation may then be transmitted back to the host computer during thesynchronization process (step 256).

In some implementations, the portable device, having received certainepisodic content from the host computer, may send those episodeswirelessly to another device (step 258), e.g., another portable deviceor even to a host computer. In so doing, the portable device maywirelessly send a recommendation signal upstream through the wirelessnetwork to a media content provider, and the same may automatically senda sample copy of the content, e.g., a podcast, downstream to the otherportable device. The sample copy may be, e.g., the latest edition of theepisodic content. In some implementations, one portable device may sendcontent directly, with no intermediary system, to another portabledevice (or other such computing device). For example, suchcommunications may be via Bluetooth or via other techniques as known oras will be later-developed.

All information necessary to subscribe or unsubscribe to the series,such as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to the podcast's “RSS” file,which is a file of XML-formatted data describing the series and itsepisodes, may be transmitted between the two devices, or between devicesand their associated host computer.

The recipient of the episodic content may be given the choice tosubscribe to that content themselves (step 262) from the portable deviceuser interface, e.g., during or after consumption of the media content.The subscription may be organized using the information provided above.The other portable device may then synchronize with an associated hostcomputer (step 264), and the associated host computer may itself beginto receive the episodic content.

In some cases, due to design or due to portable device constraints, thisfeature may be limited to devices within a certain family, such as thoseof a particular model or type.

Referring to FIG. 7, in an arrangement 260 relating to wirelesspodcasting management, the user's subscription data (including but notlimited to: which series to subscribe to, how often to check for newepisodes, which episodes have already been consumed, bookmarks intopartially-consumed episodes, the order in which to play back episodes,and so forth) may be stored in a single user profile stored on a webserver 280 associated with a user login or identity. In this way, avariety of possible playback devices, including host computer 30,portable device 20, multipurpose gaming console 272 such as the Xbox360® game console, laptop computers 266, mobile phones 268, and othercomputing devices, may use this single web-based data store to determinewhat actions to take locally in order to globally implement the currentstate of all user subscriptions. Such actions may include downloadinglocal copies of series episodes from the original publisher, deletingepisodes which can be determined to have been completely consumedelsewhere using another device, beginning playback at an updatedlocation due to prior consumption activity, adding new subscriptions, orremoving subscriptions to which the user unsubscribed by using anotherdevice.

A flowchart 270 of this arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 8. In thatfigure, a first step is that episodic content, such as a podcast, issubscribed to using a first device (step 274). This first device may bea portable device, a host computer, or any other computing device. Anext step is that the subscription may be noted (step 276) by the userprofile stored on web server 280. In performing step 276, a wirelesssynchronization may occur between the portable device and the userprofile on the web server or a message may be sent to the web server 280notifying the same of the subscription. Notification of the subscriptionmay then be sent to all other devices associated with the user (step278), either by a messaging step or by those devices' respectivesynchronizations, such as with the user profile or with individual otherdevices.

A user may then consume or manage content on any of the devices in thenetwork (step 282). That device is then synchronized with the profile(step 284). In this synchronization, the user profile stores the resultsof the content consumption or management on the one device, and indeedstores results of content consumption and management on all associateddevices. The user profile sends or synchronizes with all devices in thenetwork, so that each is made aware of the current state of the mediaconsumption and management (step 286). Each device is then keptup-to-date with all other devices, and various ways in which they aremaintained in an up-to-date fashion are shown in box 288 of FIG. 8.

The arrangements described here provide a feature-rich way to wirelesslysynchronize media and subscription content between portable devices andhost computers. Numerous variations will be apparent. For example, hostcomputers should be construed to be much more than just desktop orlaptop computers; the term may also encompass any computing device. Inthe same way, a portable device may include any type of device on whichmedia content items may be consumed, and the term is not limited tosimply mp3 players. That is, the principles of the present arrangementmay be generally applied to other devices beyond media players. Suchdevices include, for example, mobile phones, PDAs, smart phones,handheld game devices, ultra-mobile computers, devices including variouscombinations of the functionalities provided therein, and the like.While the arrangement has been primarily described using USB wiredconnections, any sort of wired connection may be employed, e.g.,Firewire®. While the arrangement has been primarily described usingSSIDs employed in 802.11 wireless LANs, any sort of identifier forwireless LANs may be sniffed.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary configuration of an operatingenvironment 302 in which all or part of the arrangements and/or methodsshown and discussed in connection with the figures may be implemented orused. For example, the operating environment may be employed in eitherthe portable device 30, the host computer 20, or both. Operatingenvironment 302 is generally indicative of a wide variety ofgeneral-purpose or special-purpose computing environments, and is notintended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of the arrangements described herein.

As shown, operating environment 302 includes processor 306,computer-readable media 308, and computer-executable instructions 312.One or more internal buses 304 may be used to carry data, addresses,control signals, and other information within, to, or from operatingenvironment 302 or elements thereof.

Processor 306, which may be a real or a virtual processor, controlsfunctions of the operating environment by executing computer-executableinstructions 312. The processor may execute instructions at theassembly, compiled, or machine-level to perform a particular process.

Computer-readable media 308 may represent any number and combination oflocal or remote devices, in any form, now known or later developed,capable of recording, storing, or transmitting computer-readable data,such as computer-executable instructions 312 which may in turn includeuser interface functions 314 and content items 316. In particular, thecomputer-readable media 308 may be, or may include, a semiconductormemory (such as a read only memory (“ROM”), any type of programmable ROM(“PROM”), a random access memory (“RAM”), or a flash memory, forexample); a magnetic storage device (such as a floppy disk drive, a harddisk drive, a magnetic drum, a magnetic tape, or a magneto-opticaldisk); an optical storage device (such as any type of compact disk ordigital versatile disk); a bubble memory; a cache memory; a core memory;a holographic memory; a memory stick; a paper tape; a punch card; or anycombination thereof. The computer-readable media may also includetransmission media and data associated therewith. Examples oftransmission media/data include, but are not limited to, data embodiedin any form of wireline or wireless transmission, such as packetized ornon-packetized data carried by a modulated carrier signal.

Computer-executable instructions 312 represent any signal processingmethods or stored instructions. Generally, computer-executableinstructions 312 are implemented as software components according towell-known practices for component-based software development, and areencoded in computer-readable media. Computer programs may be combined ordistributed in various ways. Computer-executable instructions 312,however, are not limited to implementation by any specific embodimentsof computer programs, and in other instances may be implemented by, orexecuted in, hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.

Input interface(s) 322 are any now-known or later-developed physical orlogical elements that facilitate receipt of input to operatingenvironment 302.

Output interface(s) 324 are any now-known or later-developed physical orlogical elements that facilitate provisioning of output from operatingenvironment 302.

Network interface(s) 326 represent one or more physical or logicalelements, such as connectivity devices or computer-executableinstructions, which enable communication between operating environment302 and external devices or services, via one or more protocols ortechniques. Such communication may be, but is not necessarily,client-server type communication or peer-to-peer communication.Information received at a given network interface may traverse one ormore layers of a communication protocol stack.

Specialized hardware 328 represents any hardware or firmware thatimplements functions of operating environment 302. Examples ofspecialized hardware include encoders/decoders, decrypters,application-specific integrated circuits, clocks, and the like.

The methods shown and described above may be implemented in one or moregeneral, multi-purpose, or single-purpose processors.

Functions/components described herein as being computer programs are notlimited to implementation by any specific embodiments of computerprograms. Rather, such functions/components are processes that convey ortransform data, and may generally be implemented by, or executed in,hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.

It will be appreciated that particular configurations of the operatingenvironment may include fewer, more, or different components orfunctions than those described. In addition, functional components ofthe operating environment may be implemented by one or more devices,which are co-located or remotely located, in a variety of ways.

Although the subject matter herein has been described in languagespecific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is alsoto be understood that the subject matter defined in the claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

It will further be understood that when one element is indicated asbeing responsive to another element, the elements may be directly orindirectly coupled. Connections depicted herein may be logical orphysical in practice to achieve a coupling or communicative interfacebetween elements. Connections may be implemented, among other ways, asinter-process communications among software processes, or inter-machinecommunications among networked computers.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, or illustration. Any implementation or aspect thereofdescribed herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be constructed aspreferred or advantageous over other implementations or aspects thereof.

As it is understood that embodiments other than the specific embodimentsdescribed above may be devised without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims, it is intended that the scope of thesubject matter herein will be governed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing device comprising: at least oneprocessor; and memory storing computer-executable instructions that,when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing deviceto: establish a wireless synchronization connection to a portablecomputing device; receive, from the portable computing device over thewireless synchronization connection, wireless configuration setupparameters used by the portable computing device to connect to aparticular wireless local area network and subscription data used by theportable device to access a web-based media content delivery serviceover the Internet; re-use the wireless configuration setup parameters toconnect to the particular wireless local area network; and re-use thesubscription data to access the web-based media content delivery serviceover the Internet.
 2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein thewireless configuration setup parameters include a passphrase for theparticular wireless local area network.
 3. The computing device of claim1, wherein the subscription data includes a user login to the web-basedmedia content delivery service.
 4. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the wireless synchronization connection is a Bluetoothconnection.
 5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the portablecomputing device is a smartphone.
 6. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the portable computing device is a tablet computer.
 7. Thecomputing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes or isconnected to a display screen.
 8. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions that,when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing deviceto begin playback of a media content item based upon partial consumptionof the media content item on the portable computing device.
 9. Thecomputing device of claim 1, wherein the memory further storescomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the computing device to provide gaming functionality.10. A computer-implemented method comprising: establishing a wirelesssynchronization connection to a portable computing device; andreceiving, from the portable computing device over the wirelesssynchronization connection, wireless configuration setup parameters usedby the portable computing device to connect to a particular wirelesslocal area network and subscription data used by the portable device toaccess a web-based media content delivery service over the Internet;re-using the wireless configuration setup parameters to connect to theparticular wireless local area network; and re-using the subscriptiondata to access the web-based media content delivery service over theInternet.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein thewireless configuration setup parameters include a passphrase for theparticular wireless local area network.
 12. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein the subscription data includes a user loginto the web-based media content delivery service.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the wirelesssynchronization connection is a Bluetooth connection.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the portable computingdevice is a smartphone.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10,wherein the portable computing device is a tablet computer.
 16. Acomputer-readable hardware device having memory storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause a computing device to perform a method comprising:receiving, over a wireless synchronization connection establishedbetween the computing device and a portable computing device, wirelessconfiguration setup parameters used by a portable computing device toconnect to a particular wireless local area network and subscriptiondata used by the portable device to access a web-based media contentdelivery service over the Internet; re-using the wireless configurationsetup parameters to connect to the particular wireless local areanetwork; and re-using the subscription data to access the web-basedmedia content delivery service over the Internet.
 17. Thecomputer-readable hardware device of claim 16, wherein the wirelessconfiguration setup parameters include a passphrase for the particularwireless local area network.
 18. The computer-readable hardware deviceof claim 16, wherein the subscription data includes a user login to theweb-based media content delivery service.
 19. The computer-readablehardware device of claim 16, wherein the portable computing device is asmartphone or a tablet computer.
 20. The computer-readable hardwaredevice of claim 16, wherein the computing device includes or isconnected to a display screen.